Senior executive of leading Cypriot businesses attended the event “Boards of Directors and Audit Committee at the heart of audit reform” in Nicosia organised by PwC Cyprus, the Institute of Directors Cyprus (IoD) and the European Confederation of Directors’ Associations (ecoDa).
Executives were briefed on the developments in the auditing services industry and the changes affecting the operation of the Boards of Directors and Audit Committees. Andreas Zachariades, Vice Chairman of the Cyprus Public Audit Oversight Board, was one of the event’s main speaker.
In his welcome address, PwC Cyprus CEO Evgenios Evgeniou stressed the importance of fully comprehending the changes in the new EU legislation, noting that it is imperative that businesses thoroughly evaluate the consequences of this reform and enter a process of adjusting to the relevant changes.
“The usefulness and role of audit committees is of great importance for any organisation wishing to develop robust corporate governance. Therefore, there is an explicit need to become familiar with the EU audit legislation and bring up best practice, to help them achieve that goal. This development in turn will contribute towards a healthy entrepreneurship, a necessary pillar for achieving robust growth,” he added.
Evdokimos Xenophontos, Chairman of Cyprus IoD, expressed his satisfaction over the organisation’s collaboration with PwC Cyprus in issuing a Guide that would explain the legislation changes stipulated in the new framework for the Audit Committees. Putting Audit Committees at the centre of quality control, he noted, confirms their value and the important work they do, in conjunction with the boards of directors of every organisation.
The new framework that arises from the Directive 2014/56/EU of the European Parliament and the Council for amending the Directive 2006/43/EP and the Regulation 537/2014 was presented by George Kazamias, PwC Cyprus Partner, Assurance Risk & Quality, Responsible for Regulatory Affairs and Nicos Stavrou, Director of Assurance and Advisory. The presentation focused on the changes affecting the Boards of Directors and Audit Committees due to the occurrence of new regulatory requirements that need to be promptly taken into consideration for the operation of the two institutions.
The presentation was followed by a panel discussion between Andreas Zachariades, Vice Chairman of Cyprus Public Audit Oversight Board, Demetra Kalogerou, Chairwoman of the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission, Lambros Papadopoulos, Member of the Board of Directors and Audit Committee Chairman of Hellenic Bank and Ioannis Zografakis, Member of the Board of Directors and Audit Committee Chairman of Bank of Cyprus.
The event and the panel discussion were coordinated by Petros C. Petrakis, Head of Risk and Quality, PwC Cyprus.
